Australia 1997: Commodore & Falcon down, Kia lands

Record year for the Australian new car market, up 11% on 1996 to 722,642 registrations, for the first time above 700,000 and beating the 695,856 units delivered in 1985. Both in a transition year with a new model released, the Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon drop quite significantly: -7% to 76,849 sales and 10.6% share for the Commodore and -8% to 71,850 units and 9.9% for the Falcon, its first time below 10% since 1991.

Ford Falcon

The Mitsubishi Magna/Verada reclaims the third spot for the 5th time in the last 7 years and the first since 1994 with a record 41,008 sales and 5.7% share, up a massive 27% year-on-year. The Hyundai Excel gains ground again but slower than the market at +9% to 38,489 units, resulting in a 4th place and 5.3% share. We'll come back to the Koreans shortly.

Other great performers in 1997 include the Nissan Pulsar up 81% to #9, the Toyota Starlet up 298% to #12, the Mitsubishi Mirage up 231% to #17, the Mitsubishi Triton up 42% to #24, the Toyota Prado up 147% to #26, the Subaru Impreza up 60% to #30, the Land Rover Discovery up 19% to #35 and the Holden Astra up 220% to #36.

Kia Mentor

Back to the Koreans, which keep progressing year after year in Australia. On top of the Hyundai Excel at #4, the Hyundai Lantra cuts its ranking in two compared to last year to #11 with 11,674 sales, the Daewoo Cielo/Lanos is up 1% but down 6 spots to #16, the Hyundai Sonata is up 43% to #22 and we welcome a new brand in the Top 50: Kia, placing both the Mentor at #44 and the Sportage at #50...